Jumping on the 3D printer bandwagon

[geolemon]

So brace yourself for the newbiest of noob questions...
This is the "What subwoofer is best?" of 3D printer questions I'm sure...

Do you have to use the slicer software that comes with your specific printer?

I ask because on one hand I could see it being very close-coupled to the printer driver, to take care of printer-specific quirks or features. And also because in some reviews I read as I'm shopping (DaVinci Duo for example) some people are complaining about the slicer software as though they are prison bars.

But on the other hand, it doesn't seem like everyone should be reinventing the wheel, I'd think that like regular printers, there would be some standards that would at least mean there would be third-party slicer software that could at least work with the popular brands?
Or, that some of the cheaper printer makers might clone or blatantly rip off other brands, making for some "accidental" compatibility between slicers, that might offer some options?
OR - I've seen some printers that claim to be "open source", which by nature would use or create a standard - sure there can be more than one "open source" project, but generally they tend to coalesce around a standard. And again, I'd think the "open source" slicer would be pretty inherently good (being community-conceived), and also possibly coalesce around other slicer-software alternatives.

So, sorry for my clearly under-educated question - basically I'm wondering "can you shop for printers and slicer software separately?"

[geolemon]

One more question for everyone - although I saw something here that makes me think Phil might have an answer:

When I received my printer, it actually sat in the box for a loooong time!!!

◾◾◾ diy.phil
my build log... https://www.diymobileaudio.com/threa...prints.346649/

Early in Phil's build log thread, he's got an image of a reworked center channel, pieces that fit exactly into an existing space.

What I REALLY would love - a reasonably accurate 3D scanner.
And I don't mean a box you put things in and it scans them...
...I mean a handheld device so I could disassemble part of my dashboard, and wave it around to take scans that give me a reasonably accurately scaled image of the negative space - the very [potentially complex] surface, to build onto.

Are there any reasonably priced options for this?

Part of me does want a printer to print things.

But if I can scan existing parts, tweak them, and print my modified versions - I would have SO many more [practical!] things that I could do with it.
And if I could similarly disassemble a part off something, scan that thing with the removed part, and then model up something that fits into that space, right down to being able to use the existing connection points inside the scanned space - that would be downright powerful and awesome.

I'd love to start with that, something that could be opened in the 3D CAD software, and then built on that scan.
Does anyone know of any options to do this? Inexpensive-ish scanner?

[SiW80]

You can use any slicer but people tend to choose based on UI and the version of the slicer.

I started with Cura but had bugs in it so now using Prusaslicer and prefer that.

Some have all the printer settings available by default for a number of printers but others you need to setup yourself - simple enough from Google searches


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[diy.phil]

yeah @geolemon don't worry too much about the slicer. By now I’ve seen everyone complain about every slicer. Just buy the printer first and use the default/standard software. It will work. Print a few dozen items, whatever your projects to get a feel for it. Just auto-everything on it (like a green box setting on digital cameras). Later we can change a few settings (semi-manual) and advance from there. Some software that works fine for some will not work for others and vice versa. At the end of the day we can find problems with every software or we can try to work with it lol. Even the default slicer (in firmware) inside the printer will actually work.... we can use it too. Sometimes it may not be optimum, or we allegedly think it it's not optimum lol.... then it's always a nice time to try a few different software (later) anyways.

Regarding the scanner, the tabletop/box is too easy and precise too. The ones to scan free space/rooms range from cheap (digital photos stitched, no precision) to handheld (very precise, expensive). I don't use any.... I just use a tape measure or calipers to measure and then wireframe or outline the space/shape, and draw/model whatever pieces in this space. It's easy enough too but takes time.

Sometimes we have weird tricks to measure or draw something but we don't tell others or they'll yell at us for wasting stuff. For example, we sit in the driver's seat puzzled on how to measure or draw that A pillar area or sail/triangle area or windshield's lower corner. It really isn't easy and wonder which tools we'll need to buy for this project lol. The silly trick is maybe use lots of kitchen aluminum foil. First lightly wrinkle the entire piece. Then shape it to something a crude ball (very lose foil/ball with lots of air space inside). Then shove that ball into the sail area or A pillar or corner. Or slightly loosen the foil/ball to work it into the corners/edges and then shove the bigger part/foil in there. After we remove the entire foil/"ball"... hey that shape/imprint stays there and we can bring it indoors to the laptop desk or kitchen island, have a few beers, slowly measure/outline this foil/block and draw it too lol.

A few months ago a CAD company sent an invite to a conference center for a product debut and they also featured some demos of various freehand 3D scanners (with lots of precision/accuracy). That sure got me so excited... I was ready to drop $500 to $1k on a diy-use gadget so that I don't need to pull out a tape measure to measure rooms/car interior or use calipers for smaller spaces/items ... forever! Later on, I was figured I should read something before going there. Ha!!! That's when I found out their handheld scanner costs half the price of new car!! But should be damn precise. Anyways, look here for fun.... https://www.goengineer.com/products/goscan-3d/
Scroll down to the middle of the page and click on the video, use full screen and drool lol! They scanned the car's interior frame and also a transmission block. Whoa... that's what I want to do!!!
ok, there're some low-cost scanners recently and maybe I should look into these again. It may not be precise (not enough decimal points lol) or but should be a good start for play/diy purposes.

[dgage]

Haha. Yes, I’ve wanted to get a 3D scanner to scan the interior of cars and be able to create custom sub enclosures for the trunk as well as custom A-pillars. A $20,000 scanner would take a long time to pay back and I’m not sure the audio market for that sort of thing is very big.

[diy.phil]

i have another secret project for my other car. Measured and test printed/fitted it a few times. The shape/space/constrain is already correct but I'm still modifying it lol.

[geolemon]

i have another secret project for my other car. Measured and test printed/fitted it a few times. The shape/space/constrain is already correct but I'm still modifying it lol.

So no scanner, just doing it all from measurements and test prints?

Definitely looks like a factory part - it's things like those clips that would have me wanting the ability to just scan an existing part and then modify what I want. Seems like that would take an awful lot of test printing and tweaking to get the details ironed out.
If I could start with essentially a copy of the factory part - that just seems like I could focus on my improvements instead.

[diy.phil]

yeah no scanner. I measure/use the factory speaker bracket/part too! And several test prints. Sometimes i use some thin walls (fast print time) with adequate cross-braces to hold it's shape just for these tests.

you know i spent so much time (geometry exercise) manually trying to figure out the angle/slope of the grill. Then the other day i found out i already have a misc-measuring app. Just put the phone on the grill and it'll show the tilt angle lol. But that works good for flat items only/usually.

[geolemon]

Well what can I say - I'm truly even MORE impressed. It really does look like the rendering of a factory part. Super cool.

[diy.phil]

Man i sure look like i have a nice scanner ha ha. For the ikea chair armrest that was too easy to measure too. I made a graph paper drawing and printed it on cardstock (plain paper is fine too). Then i aligned it on the side of the armrest/wood, smack a hardcover book to it to make this card/paper firm. Took a pencil to draw/trace the armrest curve. Then it becomes too easy to read/replicate it into the drawing...
(I actually used this print-a-graph-paper trick on many different projects.)